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Friday Link Pack 09/18/2015
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Friday Link Pack 09/18/2015

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, it’s back! It’s time for the Friday Link Pack. Some of these links I’ve mentioned on Twitter, if you’re not already following me there, please do! Do you have a link I should feature in the upcoming link pack? Click here to email me and let me know! (Include a website so I can link to you as well.) Let’s get to it…

RED LITTEN WORLD:

[Note: As we draw closer and closer to the October 6th release date I will have new Red Litten World news every week, fitting we give it its own category.]

Read A Free Sample Chapter Of Red Litten World Today
You can read an excerpt from my next novel for free over on its official site. I hope you enjoy it, help spread the word and please tell your friends!

Red Litten World Is Available For Preorder
Preorders are open! You can order the eBook of Red Litten World and have it delivered to your reader the morning of October 6th. Simple and efficient. (There ares a few platforms that don’t allow for preordering, for those Red Litten World will still arrive October 6th, but you’ll have to purchase it the old fashioned way.)

WRITING:

The Most Banned And Challenged Books Of 2014
File under books you should read. Some of these are surprising, some aren’t. Some have been there a while. (It’s no secret I am a huge fan of #6, as a matter of fact, I just got the recent trade of Saga in the mail a few days ago! Yay!)

H. P. Lovecraft & H. R. Giger: How Their Dreams Became Our Nightmares
A great guest post by John A. DeLaughter over on Lovecraft eZine focusing on Lovecraft and Giger and how the visions of these two quiet and nondescript men entered the collective consciousness and pop culture.

5 Lessons Learned From Writing 10 Fiction Books
Mystery author Joanna Penn can easily be called an industry veteran, and with the release of her latest book, Deviance, she has offered to share advice she’s learned after writing ten novels. It’s good stuff, and worth a read. Also, if you’re a mystery fan grab one of her books.

China Miéville’s 6 Favorite Books
My favorite weird fiction author shares his top six books. As you’d expect they’re not mainstream darlings, a really unique selection. (Miéville has a new collection of short stories out as well, I just started Three Moments of an Explosion and I’m really enjoying it.)

Crunch Time: The Realities Of Indie Publishing
What does it take to launch a book as an indie publisher? Quite a bit actually and doing it right takes a lot of effort. In this post, I go into details on my book launching process and even include my list for the launch of Red Litten World.

ART:

A Lovelorn Theft
My amazing wife and partner, Kari-Lise, latest series is now on view at Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco and it’s amazing. (There’s only a handful of pieces left so if something catches your eye make sure you contact Kim at Modern Eden.) We went down to SF last weekend for the opening. It was great meeting everyone, big thank-you to those who came out and said “hello!”

New Cubist Tattoos By Peter Aurisch
I love it when tattoos break the conventional idea of what a tattoo should be, instead of another pretend sailor icon the owner chooses something fresh and unique that stands out. This work from Peter Aurisch fits that latter group.

RANDOM:

What The Hell Are These?? (WARNING: Not For The Faint Of Heart)
You’ll never guess what these weird looking appendages belong to. I’m not going to spoil the surprise, but yeah… creepy and disturbing. Nature is wacky. [Thanks to my editor, Lola Landekic for sharing this with me. I think.]

Don’t Ignore The Background [Video]
One of my absolute favorite YouTube shows, Nerdwriter, explores the visual stories told in the background of one of my absolute favorite movies, Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men. There are a lot of great lessons about subtle storytelling and worldbuilding here, stuff I use myself when I write my books. This video is very much worth your eight minutes.

Iconic Book Covers Come To Life In Beautiful, Subtle GIFs
Classic book covers animated. The result is as the title suggests often beautiful. Would be cool to see this sort of thing become “a thing” it’s a fun way to draw attention to books. That said, if you’re an author and you want to do something similar for your own book, consider contacting Albinson Design, their work is fantastic. (They do book trailers as well.)

WEIRD WIKIPEDIA:

Shadow Person
“A shadow person (also known as a shadow figure, shadow being or black mass) is the perception of a patch of shadow as a living, humanoid figure, particularly as interpreted by believers in the paranormal or supernatural as the presence of a spirit or other entity. Many methamphetamine addicts report hallucinations of “shadow people”, as a result of sleep deprivation.”

[FUN & RANDOM FACT: The umbra species from my Lovecraftian urban fantasy series, The Bell Forging Cycle, is partially inspired by shadow people.]

H.P. LOVECRAFT STORY OF THE WEEK:

The Very Old Folk
Found in a 1927 letter addressed to Donald Wandrei, this story is: the roman legion meets The Hills Have Eyes with a dash of Dallas.

GIF OF THE WEEK:

a clown

Crunch Time: The Realities of Indie Publishing
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Crunch Time: The Realities Of Indie Publishing

This is not a pity post. I say that because I know some folks will read emotion into blog posts like this and I’m not looking to garner sympathy. My intention is to share my own experiences and inform people about the work it takes to launch an indie title. It’s no secret that indie publishing is hard work. It requires a lot of time and intense dedication, the cliche “blood, sweat, and tears” applies. I want to help in that regard, I want to let you know what the book-launching part of indie publishing entails so when you face your own launch you are better equipped.

First, a little bit of background. For those unaware, I work two full-time jobs. There’s my day job (UX designer) which I have been doing for a long time and I love. It helps support my second job… which is being this writer here, the guy who writes books, blogs blog posts, tweets tweets, etc. It’s another job that I absolutely adore. Both are incredibly fulfilling, and every day they take me down different paths creatively. I have mentioned before that I chose indie publishing because I didn’t want to give up control. I wanted to be responsible for my books from start to finish from the moment a reader hears about it on the web, to the moment they crack open the paperback. I wanted to curate the reader’s experience by making the story of The Bell Forging Cycle to be as cohesive as possible. To achieve that I felt I needed nuanced control over everything. I wanted to have control over the design of my web presence, the covers of my books, even the interiors of the paperbacks. Many of those elements are involved in a book launch, and as the series has grown, so has each consecutive launch.

It’s easy to write, but in reality it’s tough. It makes for a lot of work. September for me has become crunch time. Right now, here’s my typical day: I wake up around 7:30 a.m., pour coffee down my throat, run to work, spend eight to nine hours at my day job, run home, eat a quick dinner with Kari-Lise, and then it’s into my office where I work until at least 12:00 a.m. (recently it’s been closer to 1 or 2:00 a.m.). Then when the day ends, I crash out. The following morning, I am back at it. While I enjoy the work, it has made most of September a weird routine of cycles. I also haven’t done much writing (or reading for that matter). Life right now is the launch.

To put it in perspective, here’s my list of things that I need to get done before Red Litten World’s launch. Some of these take more time than others, some less, but I feel each of them are an important part in making the launch of Book III as successful as it can be.

  • Finalize edits & copy edits (Yay!)
  • Finalize paperback interior (I think I’m real close)
  • Finalize paperback cover (Again, real close)
  • Finalize ebook interior (Close, if not done)
  • Finalize ebook cover (Aww yiss)
  • Deal with Nook layout (Yeah, it gets its own line item)
  • Finalize bookmarks
  • Finalize stickers
  • Product photos
  • Finalize buttons (Yay, done!)
  • Prep redlittenworld.com for launch
  • Prep bellforgingcycle.com for launch
  • Prep kmalexander.com for launch
  • Prep updates for store.kmalexander.com
  • Prep [REDACTED] (Got to keep some things secret)
  • Finalize [REDACTED]
  • Work on [REDACTED]
  • Prep launch blog posts (I usually write posts in advance)
  • Prep advertising (For the sake of brevity I am listing this as one line item, on my real list it’s four or five due to the various ad networks and their various requirements)
  • Finalize new contests
  • Set up Goodreads page (Done! Add RLW to your To-Read list)

It’s a formidable list, an it’s just the start, my to-do list continues to grow and deadlines approach. There’s a misconception out there (one I have spoken about before) that indie publishing is easy and cheap. But it’s not. To do it right takes time, money, and will. All those things have a cost. Not everyone wants to spend the effort, and that’s okay. Thankfully there are other alternatives for people who aren’t as insane as folks like me. (Traditional publishing, while stressful in its own way, removes a lot of this labor.)

As I said at the start, I’m not looking for sympathy. I love this. I love the thrill. I love being able to insert little secrets and details, not just in the books themselves, but throughout the experience as a whole. For me, it’s a rush. I’m lucky I have an understanding partner and I’m blessed (#Blessed) that I am able to carve out time to do all of this. (Usually this comes at the expense of time-sinks like games, movies, and television. Try cutting back yourself, you’ll be amazing at how much time you have.) I share this because I like transparency, I enjoy telling of my journey to publication. It’s why I started this blog in the first place. I hope my experiences can help others learn and grow in their own lives. I also hope others are able to understand what it takes to “do it right” as it were. I think some of the usual shade thrown at indie publishing comes because there is a group who dive into the deep end and don’t fully understand the work involved with launching a quality product. Our collective reputation grows the better we all strive to become.

The best part about all of this: it’s all totally worth it. Whenever I hear from a reader, talk with a fan, meet someone at a convention, or see a new review, all the effort fades away. I tell stories to entertain, to enrich, to challenge, and to thrill. If I can do any of those for even one person, I’m a pretty happy writer.

Now, back to it, Lovat awaits and the launch is near.

Red Litten World arrives October 6th, 2015
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On October 6th, It’s Time To Return To Lovat

“…legend said that it had come from a mysterious inner realm beneath the red-litten world—a black realm of peculiar-sensed beings which had no light at all, but which had great civilisations and mighty gods…”

—H. P. Lovecraft & Zealia Bishop, The Mound

The sharp scent of ash lingers in the air, the city’s cold streets feel deserted, and the revolver rides heavy in the pocket of our hero. In the distance, a jazz band warbles through an ancient tune from a crackly radio speaker. You can feel the tension on the wind, it sparks across your skin like static. But, the wait is nearly over. On Tuesday, October 6th, 2015 you’ll be able to join Caravan Master Waldo Bell in my next book, The Bell Forging Cycle, Book III: Red Litten World.

As I promised yesterday, you can check out a free sample chapter right now! Read it over at the official website: redlittenworld.com (which is the best reading experience, IMO) or you can read it right here on my blog. I hope you enjoy it. The goal with the Bell Forging Cycle’s prologues has always been to treat them like the cold open of a television show. Set things up, get the plot moving and hint at what’s to come. As you can probably tell from Red Litten World’s prologue, things for Wal are going to get very interesting.

While I’m very excited to share the sample chapter with you, there’s more. As of today, Red Litten World is currently available for pre-order for Kindle users! Really! Just click here and you can preorder the Kindle edition for $5.99 and it will automagically appear on you device launch day.

There’s a lot more to come. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be revealing a bunch of fun little things. Check back often, add Red Litten World to your to-read list on Goodreads, and please tell your friends!

It’s high time we to return to Lovat.

Friday Link Pack 07/31/2015 - Dang, July is a long month.
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Friday Link Pack 7/31/2015

After a week hiatus, we’re back! Here is today’s Friday Link Pack! Some of these links I mention on Twitter, if you’re not already following me there, please do! Do you have a link I should feature in the upcoming link pack? Click here to email me and let me know! (Include a website so I can link to you as well.) Let’s get to it…

WRITING:

How To Deal With Harsh Criticism Of Your Writing
A great article from Charlie Jane Anders popped up on io9 this week. Criticism is hard, sometimes painfully so, but there are ways you can approach it. This is good advice.

Wake-Up Call: Amazon Serves Author Interests Better Than Publishers
Industry vet, Mike Shatzkin, breaks down Amazons recent innovative moves (like launching the follow button for readers) and how their success has translated into success for publishing and writing in general.

Ursula K. Le Guin Is Breathing Fire To Save American Literature
A great profile on badass Ursula K. Le Guin. (If you’re a follower of my blog it’s no secret how much I love her and her work.) Absolutely fantastic read, delving into her writing, her defense of sci-fi and fantasy (and books in general), and her activism work.

Why Horror Is Good For You (And Even Better For Your Kids)
Artist Greg Ruth gives us six fantastic reasons why we should all read horror.

Indie Or Traditional: The Cost Of Publishing
Creating a book always has a cost. It’s up to you as the writer to decide what that cost should be and how much you’re willing to pay.

ART:

Alicia Savage, Destinations
Stumbled across Alicia Savage’s ethereal photography work and knew I’d need to share it here. Obscured women float and drift through surreal glimpses of shattered Americana.

The Art Of Greg Ruth
He’s already told us why horror is good for us in the Writing section. Why not enjoy exploring some of his incredible work as well?

Artist Sam Van Aken’s Tree Grows 40 Different Kinds Of Fruit
Using grafting, Sam Van Aken grows some pretty incredible trees. [Big thanks to Ben for sharing this with me.]

RANDOM:

Perfectly Timed Photos That Make Dogs Look Like Giants
Because you needed something like this right now.

Abandoned Indonesian Church Shaped Like a Massive Clucking Chicken
Some people do strange things to get messages from God, things like build a strangely shaped church in the middle of the jungle. Apparently the builder had intended it to look like a dove but it’s clearly a chicken.

Kowloon Walled City
I have mentioned before that Lovat, the megalopolis central in my Bell Forging Cycle, was heavily influenced by Kowloon Walled City. This multimedia project by the Wall Street Journal is an incredible way to explore the rich stories and dark streets of the legendary Hong Kong settlement.

A Renaissance Painting Reveals How Breeding Changed Watermelons
We’re in the throws of summer here in the Northern Hemisphere. Why not take some time to explore the horticultural history of one of summer’s greatest treats: the watermelon.

WEIRD WIKIPEDIA:

Aroma Of Tacoma

“Seattle! Seattle! Death Rattle, Death Rattle; Tacoma! Tacoma! Aroma, Aroma!”

—George Francis Train

“The “Aroma of Tacoma” is a putrid and unpleasant odor associated with Tacoma, Washington. The smell has been described as similar to the odor of rotten eggs. The odor is not noticeable throughout the city, but is rather concentrated in the north end of Tacoma and is frequently smelled by motorists traveling that section of the Interstate 5 highway.”

H.P. LOVECRAFT STORY OF THE WEEK:

The Night Ocean
This gloomy mood piece follows a melancholy artist who spends time alone in his cabin by the sea, and unlike most of Lovecraft’s protagonists he doesn’t throw himself into the way of terrifying monstrosities.

GIF OF THE WEEK:

In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits...

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Indie Or Traditional: The Cost Of Publishing

I’ve been going down the road of licensing the rights to print the lyrics to an old Louis Armstrong song from the 1920s. It’s an interesting set of hurdles, and if you ever want to use lyrics in your book I recommend starting with Helen Sedwick’s article How To Use Lyrics Without Paying A Fortune Or A Lawyer over on The Book Designer. Like most things in indie publishing, this will probably cost some money. That’s okay. That’s a part of indie publishing. It’s what I signed on for when I decided to publish my books this way.

I’ve noticed a theme in a lot of writing advice blogs. There seems to be some weird desire to encourage people to go into indie publishing with the assumption that there isn’t any overhead and that indie publishing is essentially cost-free. A vocal part of the community likes to rally behind the idea. I hate it when I see this. Not only is it an outright lie, it does a disservice to the whole idea of indie publishing. When an unfinished, poorly edited, or badly designed book goes to print it affects everyone. The lack of quality control is cited all the time as a major reason why so many readers are very hesitant to read indie titles.

Publishing02
Men with printing press, circa 1930

Doing It Right™ cost money. There is overhead in everything. When you become an indie writer you become a small business. You can’t do it alone. You need to hire an editor, you need to hire a designer, you need to hire an artist. You’re going to pay for ISBNs. You’re going to pay for marketing. You’re going to pay for print copies. Often, the publishing advice you read online skips over these details. But if you want to make a quality product (and you do) then you have to come to grips with the reality that it’ll cost money.

Traditional publishing does provide a way out. It doesn’t require much in the way out of pocket costs. But instead of money it takes a lot of your time and hard work. You need to write queries, polish synopsis, meet and greet with agents, and submit over and over and over again, and then weather the storm of rejections. It’s hard, but it’s (mostly) free.

Publishing03
Hoe’s six-cylinder rotary press from the 1860s

The choice for any writer is to decide which path they are interested in. Both provide ways to share your story with the world, but both are hard work and require different types of out of pocket expenses. It’s up to you to decide which path is right for you. For The Bell Forging Cycle, I chose to go the indie route. For me, it was a matter of control. I didn’t want to surrender the control of the cover design and interior layout to someone else. I have a very specific vision for my series from cover to cover and I wanted to see that through to the end.

So, what if you’re not willing to deal with traditional publishers (and there’s a whole slew of reasons why you’d want to go your own route) but the thought of putting down money is terrifying or out of the question? What options do you have? Why not consider one of the following:

  • Kickstarter

    Crowd funding through Kickstarter is a great option. There’re a lot of writers who have had great success kickstarting their project. If you have a decent social media presence this isn’t a bad way to go. In a lot of ways, you can use this to pre-sell your book, and pay for the necessaries, without a lot of out of pocket expenses. Make sure when you put together your Kickstarter pitch you put as much effort into the pitch as you do your book. People want to see you as excited and engaged as you want them to be, a good presentation is important to that end.

  • Partnerships

    This is another option. Instead of paying people up front, why not offer to split the profits with other professionals. So editors could get a percentage of your sales, as would the designers, and artists, and so on. This is a bit more difficult to manage as it requires a lot of transparency and trust, but it’s a good way to have everyone profit from a good book. You essentially build a team of people who want to see a successful book and the more folks you have to help you market your work the better.

  • Crowdsource

    I tend to shy away from crowdsourcing professionally, as it is essentially spec. work for no pay. (See No!Spec for why this is troublesome.) However, I feel like I’d be remiss not mentioning it here as there are a lot of authors who have found success thanks to crowdsourcing platforms like Wattpad, Worthy of Publishing, and Figment. It tends to be a long road, but if you’re willing to put yourself out there and allow a community to give you feedback as you write it’s a good way to work without a lot of out of pocket expense.

Indie or traditional, the choice ultimately is yours. Decide how you best want to represent your manuscript. Know the choices you have and be willing to understand and accept the costs be they financial, chronometric, or both. In the end, I encourage you to focus on quality. Quality matters and your readers will thank you.

Red Litten World Cover Reveal
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The Red Litten World Cover Reveal

Hooray! It is June 4th! As I promised it’s time to reveal the cover of my next novel: The Bell Forging Cycle, Book III: Red Litten World. Let’s get to it:

Red Litten World by K. M. Alexander

The city of Lovat is dying. It just doesn’t know it yet. Trapped behind blockades, its citizens starve. Only the wealthiest can afford to snatch up what food does slip through, leaving the poor jostling for scraps. But money only goes so far. Inside their gleaming towers, the well-fed elevated are being killed off one-by-one.

Caravan Master Waldo Bell—only a few months removed from the harrowing events along the Broken Road—just wants to keep his head down and be left alone while he waits for the blockades to break. But when familiar symbols written in blood appear at a crime scene and an old debt comes calling, Wal finds himself thrust into chaos.

Now, forced onto Lovat’s blood-soaked upper levels, Wal faces his most dangerous challenge yet: within a city on the verge of self-destruction, he must fight to save not only his own life—but the life of every Lovatine struggling below.

Isn’t it lovely? Once again, Jon Contino returned to lend his considerable talents by creating the lettering for Red Litten World. I’ve always been an admirer and fan of Jon’s work and there is something with his focused Arts and Crafts approach that captures the feel of the Bell Forging series. He nails that looming sense of unease prevalent throughout but adds an undercurrent of approachability which I really appreciate. As always, I am honored to have his help. Thanks a ton, Jon.

The background image comes once again from the late 19th-century french artist, Gustav Doré. (Sensing a theme, perhaps?) I love Dore’s work, and I’ve used his illustrations on the last two covers as well. This time the engraving was selected from Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, in this case, Inferno. There Minos stands, centers on the lounging former Cretan king, Minos, now judge of the damned at the gates of hell. As with the previous books in the series, this illustration was selected specifically for Red Litten World. There’s a hint on the cover at what lies inside the pages.

I like scattering Easter Eggs throughout my work, and not only in prose. Each of these little details add to the overall experience when a reader picks up one of the Bell Forging Cycle novels. From the choice of the background image, to the little symbols I place along the spine. Everything is selected to give readers a little more depth should they go looking.

So there it is! The cover for Red Litten World is revealed! I think it fits perfectly within the series while bringing its own unique look. Check out how great Red Litten World looks in a lineup with the other two books:

The Bell Forging Cycle

Perfect right? Red Litten World is due out later this year and there will be a launch announcement coming soon along with a sample chapter. I cannot wait to get this into your hands. I think you’re going to love this one.

What do you think of the new cover? Which cover is you favorite of the series so far and why? Leave a comment. Let me know!